This invention relates to geographic displays, and more particularly to a world globe with an accessory detailed display of a selected region of the globe.
Spherical globes that have imprinted on their surface the map of the world are well known. They are generally provided with an axle through their north and south poles. They may be mounted on a base by the axle, so that they may be rotated for viewing a selected area. U.S. Pat. No. 6,625,086 issued Sep. 23, 2003 to Kim discloses a globe with a rotation sensor on the axle. A pointer indicates a longitude position at a particular time zone on the globe. The sensor feeds the rotation information into an electronic processor and a display indicates a major city in that time zone and also displays the current time in that time zone.
Navigational aids for providing maps in vehicles and on computers have detailed maps stored on a memory such as a computer disc. The information is retrieved by inputting some location data. This enables selection of particular map information from the memory to be displayed on a computer monitor or a small monitor, such as a battery operated liquid crystal display in a vehicle.
Globes can be imprinted with a great deal of geographic information. However, unless the world globe is very large, the details are not easily read. Because a globe is spherical, it is awkward and expensive to have a large one. It is much less awkward and costly to have detailed planar maps. They may also be more easily updated. Flat and folded maps are very useful, but they lack the perspective given by the globe.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a world globe, with geographic features thereon, that rotates on an axle with the axle mounted on a base. The globe is not large enough to legibly carry all of the geographic and map information that the invention provides. Additional detailed information of a selected area of the globe is provided on a display attached to the globe either on the base or at another location. Detailed information, much more than can be imprinted even on a large globe, is stored on a memory such as, but not limited to, a compact disc. Input to the memory to select a detailed map of a particular area of the globe to be displayed on the display is provided by a longitudinal signal and a latitudinal signal. An arcuate meridian element running from the south pole to the north pole slidingly supports an indicator or reticle that may be moved north or south, and the globe rotated until the indicator or reticle is directly at the selected area. A rotary position sensor on the axle provides an east/west longitudinal signal, and a second sensor detecting the north-south location of the indicator or reticle on the meridian element provides the latitudinal signal. The two signals enable the system to select the appropriate map from the memory and to enable it to be displayed on the display. Another feature may enable the display of a more magnified map if desired.
These and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will become more apparent when the detailed description is studied in conjunction with the drawings in which like elements are designated by like reference characters in the various drawing figures.